Chicâo is the first dog we rescued from a public animal shelter, rescued from certain death. He was abandoned in the city and city hall locked him in an old, abandoned slaughterhouse where people had dumped a lot of rubbish and the floor looked like a carpet made of broken glass. It was the cities "public kennel"...
When Chico was locked up there and spent days and nights with no prospect of a beautiful life, vandalism was often carried out on and in the building. Youngsters broke in there for "fun" and sprayed Chicâo's entire face with paint, so that he almost went blind. Contrary to all reports against the city from all sides, nothing happened.
The city said that there is no solution for dogs on the streets other than catching them, lock them up in the slaughter house and taking them to a zoonosis center, where they are euthanized. This is also an inhumane way to "get rid of" the dogs, simply with the untenable justification of communicable diseases, even if the animals have not even seen a vet and therefore have no chance of escaping it.
One day, a student told Dita that "today Chicâo is being brought to the zoonosis center". That night she broke into the old slaughterhouse to free Chicâo and take him away. The slaughterhouse was one of the city's "improvised" trapping sites for street dogs. Normally every city MUST have an official program (a shelter) to try to cope with the situation, but unfortunately things are often solved differently in Brazil. Chicâo was the first dog we released from this trapping site, followed by a few more. After his liberation, Chicâo was very thin, his feet were covered with many deep cuts, ripped open by the broken glass all over the slaughterhouse. A dog locked up alone in an abandoned building, because of the sheer fear of the nocturnal attacks he runs through the broken glass and in his helplessness does not even notice how it is tearing the skin under his feet ... Today he is one of the strongest dogs on our farm and is bursting with energy. Very healthy and yet doomed to die.
In the large enclosure, Chicâo is the "king" of the pack. Every time I go into the large enclosure to clean up, work or just go in to play with the dogs, he and his followers come running towards me and jump with his forelegs on my stomach. He often knocks me over with his energy and weight. With many of the dogs you have the feeling that they would love to crawl into you for joy and be as close as possible. When I run to the exit of the enclosure with a broom and shovel, Chicâo runs by my side and always bites my wrist very weakly to say "stay a little longer". Every little farewell there is difficult, because we want to show the dogs more affection, want to play with them more to loosen up everyday life, but we are involved there every day with so much work to keep the farm halfway upright that there is seldom time for this.
But after I was able to cover the work paths in the yard and some other areas with a roof, there is slowly more time for playful inter-activities with the dogs. The roofs and entire infrastructure that we tried to build helps to make the work easier. It often rains for days and before we did the roofs we could hardly work in bad weather. It has gotten better, but the unfavorable hillside location takes its toll again and again. Despite the roofs, the water finds its way on the ground, including under the covered areas. Unfortunately only because of the hillside location of our farm and the structural difficulties that result.
written March 27th | 2021
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